JOURNAL ENTRIES FOR SUMMER:
WEEK # 1: Movie INVICTUS
During my first week of summer, I watched the movie Invictus. It is based on a true life story. The problem plotted in this movie is about the racism and inequality within South Africa. Nelson Mandela is a black man that went against this. He tried to fix this, and because of that he was said to be a terrorist and put in jail. After many years, Mandela was released. He then ran for office and resulted to win as the new president of South Africa. The white people were not so happy about this and feared the new government. On the other hand, the black people were extremely joyful because they thought that they could now seek their revenge against the white people. Even though Mandela was put in jail by white people, he was willing to forgive them. All he wanted to see was a united South Africa were white people and black people could work together to make a better country. The Springboks is the rugby team of South Africa, and one of the worst rugby teams in the world. They did not have much support from their country since it was said that rugby was just for white people. The black people wanted to abolish this rugby team and make a new one. President Mandela could not let this happen, so he decided to support the team. Francois Pienaar was the captain of the Springboks. He felt the support and inspiration from President Mandela, and decided to make his team work hard enough to get into the world cup. People in South Africa started to love and support the rugby team. There were fewer differences between white and black people. The support coming from all over South Africa towards the Springboks team made them win the world cup! Mandela’s “political” strategy resulted. South Africa was more united. Eventually, you can learn many things from this movie. First, people should stop judging each other for the color of their skin. Second, we should treat each other equally and fairly. Third, everyone deserves a chance and opportunity to demonstrate who they really are and what they can actually achieve in this life. Fourth, forgiveness is the key towards having a life without remorse or revenge, but full of pleasure.
WEEK # 2: Article from a Magazine
Arizona’s Next Immigration Target: Children of Illegals
Up above you can see Jan Brewer, the Governor of Arizona after a meeting about the new law for immigrants with president Barrack Obama on June 3, 2010.
There is a very interesting article that I read on the website of Time Magazine written by Adam Klawonn from Phoenix on June 11, 2010. It is about “Anchor Babies”. There have always been disagreements and quarrels amongst U.S. citizens when it comes to illegal immigrants. This time, Republicans in the state of Arizona, want to bring in legislation that would deny birth certificates to the children born in Arizona to parents who are illegal in the U.S. The purpose of this is to make the process of citizenship much more intricate to illegal immigrants. The senate has not yet decided what to do with this legislation, since it would go against the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The 14th Amendment clearly states “all persons, born or naturalized in the United States…are citizens of the united states. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States.” Still, many senators and people have decided to go against this amendment because they say that illegal immigrants tend to take control over this amendment when coming to the United States to have their children expecting to gain access to all of the great privileges and opportunities the United States has to offer. Therefore 58% of Americans support this. On the other hand, there are many against this bill. This is because it is full of racism, hate, and discrimination. If this bill takes place, many say that the U.S. society would be separated. Ultimately, the Senate will make its final decision on July 29.
SOURCE: Time.com
WEEK # 3: Movie ABOUT A BOY For the third week of summer I checked out this movie called About a Boy. It is a really funny movie that shows the cruel reality of life and people. Will is an adult that needs to get a life. He does nothing for a living. All of the money he gets to survive comes from a classic Christmas song that his father wrote back in the days. Worst of all, he does not have a family of his own because he thinks of himself as an island. Still, he thinks that a women every once in a while can cheer his life up a little bit, especially single mothers from SPAT. Will usually invented stories about having an imaginary son to date women. On the other hand, there is poor twelve year old Marcus. He gets bullied at school because of the way he dresses and because he has this weird tendency of singing without even realizing during class time. He does not have friends or a father. The closest thing he has to a family is his mother Fiona, who is highly depressed and tried to suicide herself once. But everything changes when they meet and start to share time together. Will learns how to act like a real grown-up, and Marcus becomes more cool and social enough to gain a few friends at school.
WEEK # 4: Book
DEAR JOHN
For my fourth week of summer I read a novel written by Nicholas Sparks called Dear John. I found this book to be romantic but at the same time miserable, because of all of the events and situations that the characters have to confront and face throughout their lives. John Tyree is a young man that enlisted himself for the U.S. army. He did this because he felt that his life was a mess and that this was his only escape and salvation to become a much more disciplined man. His life changed when he met Savannah Curtis, a country girl who liked to give service to others. They were complete opposites but decided to make their love last long, even if it meant not seeing each other for months because John had to serve the army. They would send love letters to each other every week, and dreamt about getting married when John’s time in the army would at last come to an end. Unluckily, the horrible event of September 11, 2001, made John want to serve his country for more time so he enlisted himself again. This might have helped John be more patriotic, but not a better boyfriend or son. His father had a series of heart attacks, and he could not take care of him or see him much throughout the last days of his life. Savannah was so tired of waiting for John that she decided to fall in love with another guy. Things just got worse and worse for John. His father could not take it any longer and sooner than later died. After this event, he realized that he was still not over with Savannah so he decided to pay her a visit. He then realizes that she was married to Tim. Tim had melanoma and in any second he could die. John decided to be a good friend and sold the collection of coins his father left him, to give the money to Tim so that he could pay for his treatment. He loved Savannah to the point were he just cared about seeing her happy. In the end, Tim gets better and ends up having a happy life with Savannah. On the other hand, John continues his service in the army all by himself. Honestly, I did not like the ending of this book. I think that Savannah should have waited for John, since after all she still loved him back too.
I have decided to do my last four weeks ahead of time because I am going to a trip with my mother to a place were I am probably not going to have access to internet.
WEEK # 5: Movie
WHEN IN ROME For my fifth week of summer I saw this movie called When in Rome, with my friends. It was a comedy about this girl called Beth, who on the wedding of her sister in Rome felt miserable about her love life. She decided to get out some coins from a fountain of wishes. What she did not know at the moment was that the men who threw those coins would fall in love with her. When she went back to her normal life in New York, she suddenly realized that she had four guys stalking her around the city. She did not know what to do. She was already busy with her job and did not have time for all of that nonsense. Besides that, she was falling in love with Nick, who was one of the owners of the coins according to her. Beth later realizes throughout her sister that the only solution to this problem was to either put the coins back to the fountain in Rome or to give the coins back to their owners. Everything came became normal again after giving back the coins to their owners. By chance, she realizes that Nick was really in love with her. They both decided to get married. Unfortunately, on their wedding day Beth comes to know that she actually have given the wrong coin to Nick! She calls off the wedding and puts the coin back to the fountain. It results that the owner of the coin was not Nick but the father who was about to marry them! Nick’s love towards her was for real! So as in every happily ending story, they end up getting married. I found this movie to be quite original. It was mostly about destiny and a little bit of faith.
WEEK # 6: Book
THE LOVELY BONES Lately, I have been reading The Lovely Bones, one of Alice Sebold’s best novels yet. I have found it to be realistic and sad. The events that happen in this book have occurred in the lives of many young innocent girls. There are a lot of crazy people who just want to cause harm in this world. Susie Salmon was just fourteen when she was raped and then murdered by her neighbor Mr. Harvey on December 6, 1973. Nobody knew what had happened to her. Her parents had hope that they would soon see their daughter healthy and alive. But that changed when the cops found her elbow in a nearby cornfield. It was shocking and traumatizing to accept that Suzie was murdered for her parents and sister. The interesting part of the novel is that Suzie is in the in-between. She is not with God yet. She is enjoying being dead in her own heaven. In that heaven she made many friends that have helped her feel less agony about being dead. Since there is not much to do in her heaven, Suzie is watching over her family and schoolmates, waiting for someone to discover the truth about her murderer.
WEEK # 7: Movie
REMEMBER ME Recently I watched this movie called Remember Me with my friends. Most people would say that this is just a romantic movie. The movie is not only about the love existing between two young people in their twenties. It stresses the importance of demonstrating love towards family members, shows that bullying amongst children can be very hurtful and damaging, and it reminds us that the anger and remorse stored within ourselves can burst out at any moment. Tyler Hawkins is a twenty two year old trying to find out what he wants to do in his life. On the way out from a party with a friend he gets into a fight. The police busted them. Sergeant Neil Craig beats up Tyler when Tyler just wanted justice to happen to just those who started the fight. Aidan, Tyler’s friend wanted revenge over the sergeant. He thought that the perfect way to get their revenge was to have Tyler break Allies heart (the sergeant’s daughter).In his attempt, Tyler realizes that he has fallen in love with her. He does not only have to keep up with his love life but with his family too. Caroline is his little sister, and she is having a hard time at school since there is a bunch of mean girls who do not stop bullying her. Above all, she feels that her father Charles does not love her at all. Tyler feels that he has the responsibility to fix this in order to make his little sister happy. He sort of does this by demonstrating his rage and anger in a business meeting of Charles and inside Caroline’s classroom. In the end, everything started to work out, Charles began to spend more time with his daughter and son, and Tyler was actually enjoying that fact that he had Allie as his girlfriend. Unfortunately, Tyler was in the wrong place at the wrong time. He died on September 11, 2001 in his father’s office located in one of the twin towers. My friends cried after seeing this. But to be honest I did not. This was because before dying he made Caroline happy. His family was more united. The sad part was that Aidan lost a friend, and Allie the love of her life.
WEEK # 8: Celebrity Blog
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MICHAEL JACKSON GLOVE GOES FOR $190,000!!! To be honest I have always enjoyed listening to music from Michael Jackson. Even though he went through out a lot of controversies during his lifetime, I admire him for his originality. Recently, I read an interesting article about him on a blog of Perez Hilton. People have not forgotten about Michael Jackson, “the true legend”. He created a huge impact on Pop culture. One of the things that made him stand out from other artists was the way he dressed. He loved to look good for his concerts and interviews. Michael Jackson was known to wear a lot of gloves. Just a few days ago there was an auction that included many of Michael Jackson’s most famous artifacts including his Swarovski-crystal-studded glove, stage-worn loafers, a custom jacket and some of his last autographs. People from all around the glove came to this auction, including Asians and Russians. Believe it or not, people were willing to pay anything from $21,000 to $190,000! Wanda Kelley from Los Angeles, California was one of this people and the lucky one to take Michael Jackson’s famous Swarovski-crystal-studded glove, worn on his 1984 Victory Tour for $190,000! Sincerely, I think that Michael Jackson’s death affected the whole world. Everyone is crazy to have his things!
WEEK # 1: Movie
INVICTUS
During my first week of summer, I watched the movie Invictus. It is based on a true life story. The problem plotted in this movie is about the racism and inequality within South Africa. Nelson Mandela is a black man that went against this. He tried to fix this, and because of that he was said to be a terrorist and put in jail. After many years, Mandela was released. He then ran for office and resulted to win as the new president of South Africa. The white people were not so happy about this and feared the new government. On the other hand, the black people were extremely joyful because they thought that they could now seek their revenge against the white people. Even though Mandela was put in jail by white people, he was willing to forgive them. All he wanted to see was a united South Africa were white people and black people could work together to make a better country. The Springboks is the rugby team of South Africa, and one of the worst rugby teams in the world. They did not have much support from their country since it was said that rugby was just for white people. The black people wanted to abolish this rugby team and make a new one. President Mandela could not let this happen, so he decided to support the team. Francois Pienaar was the captain of the Springboks. He felt the support and inspiration from President Mandela, and decided to make his team work hard enough to get into the world cup. People in South Africa started to love and support the rugby team. There were fewer differences between white and black people. The support coming from all over South Africa towards the Springboks team made them win the world cup! Mandela’s “political” strategy resulted. South Africa was more united. Eventually, you can learn many things from this movie. First, people should stop judging each other for the color of their skin. Second, we should treat each other equally and fairly. Third, everyone deserves a chance and opportunity to demonstrate who they really are and what they can actually achieve in this life. Fourth, forgiveness is the key towards having a life without remorse or revenge, but full of pleasure.
WEEK # 2: Article from a Magazine
Arizona’s Next Immigration Target: Children of Illegals
Up above you can see Jan Brewer, the Governor of Arizona after a meeting about the new law for immigrants with president Barrack Obama on June 3, 2010.
There is a very interesting article that I read on the website of Time Magazine written by Adam Klawonn from Phoenix on June 11, 2010. It is about “Anchor Babies”. There have always been disagreements and quarrels amongst U.S. citizens when it comes to illegal immigrants. This time, Republicans in the state of Arizona, want to bring in legislation that would deny birth certificates to the children born in Arizona to parents who are illegal in the U.S. The purpose of this is to make the process of citizenship much more intricate to illegal immigrants. The senate has not yet decided what to do with this legislation, since it would go against the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The 14th Amendment clearly states “all persons, born or naturalized in the United States…are citizens of the united states. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States.” Still, many senators and people have decided to go against this amendment because they say that illegal immigrants tend to take control over this amendment when coming to the United States to have their children expecting to gain access to all of the great privileges and opportunities the United States has to offer. Therefore 58% of Americans support this. On the other hand, there are many against this bill. This is because it is full of racism, hate, and discrimination. If this bill takes place, many say that the U.S. society would be separated. Ultimately, the Senate will make its final decision on July 29.
SOURCE: Time.com
WEEK # 3: Movie
ABOUT A BOY
For the third week of summer I checked out this movie called About a Boy. It is a really funny movie that shows the cruel reality of life and people. Will is an adult that needs to get a life. He does nothing for a living. All of the money he gets to survive comes from a classic Christmas song that his father wrote back in the days. Worst of all, he does not have a family of his own because he thinks of himself as an island. Still, he thinks that a women every once in a while can cheer his life up a little bit, especially single mothers from SPAT. Will usually invented stories about having an imaginary son to date women. On the other hand, there is poor twelve year old Marcus. He gets bullied at school because of the way he dresses and because he has this weird tendency of singing without even realizing during class time. He does not have friends or a father. The closest thing he has to a family is his mother Fiona, who is highly depressed and tried to suicide herself once. But everything changes when they meet and start to share time together. Will learns how to act like a real grown-up, and Marcus becomes more cool and social enough to gain a few friends at school.
WEEK # 4: Book
DEAR JOHN
For my fourth week of summer I read a novel written by Nicholas Sparks called Dear John. I found this book to be romantic but at the same time miserable, because of all of the events and situations that the characters have to confront and face throughout their lives. John Tyree is a young man that enlisted himself for the U.S. army. He did this because he felt that his life was a mess and that this was his only escape and salvation to become a much more disciplined man. His life changed when he met Savannah Curtis, a country girl who liked to give service to others. They were complete opposites but decided to make their love last long, even if it meant not seeing each other for months because John had to serve the army. They would send love letters to each other every week, and dreamt about getting married when John’s time in the army would at last come to an end. Unluckily, the horrible event of September 11, 2001, made John want to serve his country for more time so he enlisted himself again. This might have helped John be more patriotic, but not a better boyfriend or son. His father had a series of heart attacks, and he could not take care of him or see him much throughout the last days of his life. Savannah was so tired of waiting for John that she decided to fall in love with another guy. Things just got worse and worse for John. His father could not take it any longer and sooner than later died. After this event, he realized that he was still not over with Savannah so he decided to pay her a visit. He then realizes that she was married to Tim. Tim had melanoma and in any second he could die. John decided to be a good friend and sold the collection of coins his father left him, to give the money to Tim so that he could pay for his treatment. He loved Savannah to the point were he just cared about seeing her happy. In the end, Tim gets better and ends up having a happy life with Savannah. On the other hand, John continues his service in the army all by himself. Honestly, I did not like the ending of this book. I think that Savannah should have waited for John, since after all she still loved him back too.
WEEK # 5: Movie
For my fifth week of summer I saw this movie called When in Rome, with my friends. It was a comedy about this girl called Beth, who on the wedding of her sister in Rome felt miserable about her love life. She decided to get out some coins from a fountain of wishes. What she did not know at the moment was that the men who threw those coins would fall in love with her. When she went back to her normal life in New York, she suddenly realized that she had four guys stalking her around the city. She did not know what to do. She was already busy with her job and did not have time for all of that nonsense. Besides that, she was falling in love with Nick, who was one of the owners of the coins according to her. Beth later realizes throughout her sister that the only solution to this problem was to either put the coins back to the fountain in Rome or to give the coins back to their owners. Everything came became normal again after giving back the coins to their owners. By chance, she realizes that Nick was really in love with her. They both decided to get married. Unfortunately, on their wedding day Beth comes to know that she actually have given the wrong coin to Nick! She calls off the wedding and puts the coin back to the fountain. It results that the owner of the coin was not Nick but the father who was about to marry them! Nick’s love towards her was for real! So as in every happily ending story, they end up getting married. I found this movie to be quite original. It was mostly about destiny and a little bit of faith.
WEEK # 6: Book
THE LOVELY BONES
Lately, I have been reading The Lovely Bones, one of Alice Sebold’s best novels yet. I have found it to be realistic and sad. The events that happen in this book have occurred in the lives of many young innocent girls. There are a lot of crazy people who just want to cause harm in this world. Susie Salmon was just fourteen when she was raped and then murdered by her neighbor Mr. Harvey on December 6, 1973. Nobody knew what had happened to her. Her parents had hope that they would soon see their daughter healthy and alive. But that changed when the cops found her elbow in a nearby cornfield. It was shocking and traumatizing to accept that Suzie was murdered for her parents and sister. The interesting part of the novel is that Suzie is in the in-between. She is not with God yet. She is enjoying being dead in her own heaven. In that heaven she made many friends that have helped her feel less agony about being dead. Since there is not much to do in her heaven, Suzie is watching over her family and schoolmates, waiting for someone to discover the truth about her murderer.
WEEK # 7: Movie
REMEMBER ME
Recently I watched this movie called Remember Me with my friends. Most people would say that this is just a romantic movie. The movie is not only about the love existing between two young people in their twenties. It stresses the importance of demonstrating love towards family members, shows that bullying amongst children can be very hurtful and damaging, and it reminds us that the anger and remorse stored within ourselves can burst out at any moment. Tyler Hawkins is a twenty two year old trying to find out what he wants to do in his life. On the way out from a party with a friend he gets into a fight. The police busted them. Sergeant Neil Craig beats up Tyler when Tyler just wanted justice to happen to just those who started the fight. Aidan, Tyler’s friend wanted revenge over the sergeant. He thought that the perfect way to get their revenge was to have Tyler break Allies heart (the sergeant’s daughter).In his attempt, Tyler realizes that he has fallen in love with her. He does not only have to keep up with his love life but with his family too. Caroline is his little sister, and she is having a hard time at school since there is a bunch of mean girls who do not stop bullying her. Above all, she feels that her father Charles does not love her at all. Tyler feels that he has the responsibility to fix this in order to make his little sister happy. He sort of does this by demonstrating his rage and anger in a business meeting of Charles and inside Caroline’s classroom. In the end, everything started to work out, Charles began to spend more time with his daughter and son, and Tyler was actually enjoying that fact that he had Allie as his girlfriend. Unfortunately, Tyler was in the wrong place at the wrong time. He died on September 11, 2001 in his father’s office located in one of the twin towers. My friends cried after seeing this. But to be honest I did not. This was because before dying he made Caroline happy. His family was more united. The sad part was that Aidan lost a friend, and Allie the love of her life.
WEEK # 8: Celebrity Blog
To be honest I have always enjoyed listening to music from Michael Jackson. Even though he went through out a lot of controversies during his lifetime, I admire him for his originality. Recently, I read an interesting article about him on a blog of Perez Hilton. People have not forgotten about Michael Jackson, “the true legend”. He created a huge impact on Pop culture. One of the things that made him stand out from other artists was the way he dressed. He loved to look good for his concerts and interviews. Michael Jackson was known to wear a lot of gloves. Just a few days ago there was an auction that included many of Michael Jackson’s most famous artifacts including his Swarovski-crystal-studded glove, stage-worn loafers, a custom jacket and some of his last autographs. People from all around the glove came to this auction, including Asians and Russians. Believe it or not, people were willing to pay anything from $21,000 to $190,000! Wanda Kelley from Los Angeles, California was one of this people and the lucky one to take Michael Jackson’s famous Swarovski-crystal-studded glove, worn on his 1984 Victory Tour for $190,000! Sincerely, I think that Michael Jackson’s death affected the whole world. Everyone is crazy to have his things!
SOURCE: perezhilton.com